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EMANCIPATION 



MENTICULTURE 



THE A-B-C OF TRUE 
LIVING 



BY 

HORACE FLETCHER 






■ 



A. C. 



CHICAGO 



CHICAGO \ p 

McCLURG & COMPAN^^ 
l8 95 




& 



Copyright, 1895 
IY HORACE FLETCHER 



2- 7¥ 



CONTENTS 



Theory 13 

A Personal Experience - - 25 

A Discussion 47 

Plymouth Church Club and Armour 

Institute 59 

Diagnosis and Remedy ... 65 

A Prescription 73 

Scraps of Evidence 77 

First Principles Overlooked - 113 

Slaves or Freemen — Which? - 123 
Organization .... 139 
Hope 145 



This little paper; being a Kindergarten 
presentation of a theory of menticulture 
through the elimination of the germs of the 
evil passions; proven to be of practical 
benefit by a personal experience in every-day 
life; was read before a gathering of Mental 
Scientists at New Orleans. At the request 
of a number of my friends I have had it put 
into printed form for them. 

I have added the substance of a discussion 
which followed the reading of the paper, a 
diagnosis, a prescription, some scraps of evi- 
dence from influential sources which have 
come to me, some suggestions relative to the 
tendency to far-away search for happiness, 
and a ray of hope that it can be found near 
at hand, through Emancipation. 



PREFACE 

Medical science had struggled for 
centuries with the repression and 
amelioration of physical disease before 
it discovered the possibility of pre- 
vention by killing the germ. 

Mental science pursued the same 
course of attempted repression in this 
country until quite recently it was 
found that mental afflictions have 
germs also, and it naturally follows 
that any who are interested in the 
subject should try to discover, not 
only the germs themselves, but methods 
of getting rid of them. 

The discovery that I have made is 
not new, as Christ, Buddha, Aristotle, 
Omar Khayyam and many others, 
have all suggested that the elimi- 

9 



10 PREFACE 

nation of the evil passions is entirely 
possible; but my special analysis of 
them, and the easy method of de- 
feat that I have found possible to 
myself, have excited such interest, 
that I have been induced to publish 
them, without attempting to follow 
the subject beyond the elementary 
stage. 

The theory that I have built up is 
based on a proper estimation of the 
limitations of mental weaknesses, a 
discovery that they have roots, and 
also that they can be "pulled out 
by the roots" and disposed of just 
like any other weeds ; only that the 
task, being mental and not physical, 
can be more easily performed. 

Literary grace has been sacrificed 
in the belief that redundant reference 
to the germs will be effective in bring- 
ing them into contempt. 



THEORY 



EMANCIPATION 



THEORY 



All of the evil passions are trace- A 

. Anger and 

able to one of two roots. , xr 

Worry are 

Anger is the root of all the aggres- Q erras 
sive passions. 

Worry is the root of all the cow- 
ardly passions. 

Envy, spite, revenge, impatience, 
annoyance, selfishness, prejudice, un- 
rest, and the like are all phases of 
anger. 

Jealousy, fear, the belittling of self, 
the blues, and all the introspective 
forms of depression are the children of 
worry. 

Anger and worry are the most un- 
profitable conditions known to man. 
While they are in possession of the 
mind, both mental and physical growth 
are suspended. 

13 



14 MENTICULTURE ; OR, THE 

. Anger and worry are thieves that 

Anger and , J 

steal precious time and energy from 

Thieves llfe * 

Anger is a highway robber and 

worry is a sneak thief. 

Anger and worry are the most 
potent forms of self-abuse, for the 
reason that in many cases anger is 
the result of misunderstanding, and 
in most cases worry's prophecies never 
come true; or, if they do, the fulfil- 
ment is generally caused by the worry 
itself. 

Anger and worry do not stimulate 
to any good end. 

Anger and worry not only dwarf 
and depress, but sometimes kill. 

Anger and worry are bad habits of 
the mind and not necessary ingredients. 

Anger and worry are no more 
necessary than other passions civilized 
man has learned to control, and it is 
only needful to realize that they are 
unnecessary in order to make it impos- 
sible to feel, much less to show them. 



A-B-C OF TRUE LIVING 15 

Anger and worry cannot be elim- , 

inated through process of repression Worr are 
any more than a weed can be killed by p aras jt es 
cutting down the stalk, or a cancer 
can be cured from the surface, or the 
drinking habit can be gotten rid of by 
" tapering off." Germ eradication is 
not only the easiest, but the only sure 
cure for all physical diseases and men- 
tal handicaps. 

The dispossession of anger and 
worry does not cause indifference or 
encourage indolence. 

The natural tendency of the eman- 
cipated mind is towards growth, both 
intellectual and spiritual, just as the 
tendency of plant life is towards vig- 
orous growth and perfect blossoming, 
if it is kept free from the gnawings 
of cankerous worms. 

Anger and worry are as much para- 
sites as are the cankerous worms that 
attack plants. The intelligent horti- 
culturist knows that the worms are 
parasites, picks them off his plant, 



1 6 MENTICULTURE ; OR, THE 

and throws them away too far to re- 
turn. The intelligent menticulturist 
Dissipation °f tne f uture W M treat anger and worry 
in the same intelligent manner. 

It is not necessary to engage in 
battle the small army of lesser passions 
if you concentrate your efforts against 
anger and worry, for they are all chil- 
dren of these parents. Oppose them 
with a bold front ; make one heroic 
stand against them and they and all of 
their children will fly. Disown them 
once and the ability to re-adopt them 
will have disappeared with them. 

Anger and worry, especially worry, 
are the cause of most of the drunken- 
ness and other dissipations which are 
the curses of the age. Excuse for them 
or temptation to them is found in the 
desire to smother the depression which 
they themselves cause. 

Anger and worry are creations of 
the mind, and can be dispelled by the 
same power that gave them birth. 

Anger and worry are caused by 



Phantoms 



A-B-C OF TRUE LIVING 17 

phantoms that we create within our- 
selves and whose only strength is 
that with which we endow them. 

Anger and worry are like echos ; 
they do not exist until we call for 
them, and the louder we call, the 
louder is their response. We can 
never drown them ; yet, if let alone, 
they drown themselves. 

Fear is possibly the truer name for 
the cowardly root-passion than worry ; 
but as they are synonymous, and as 
anger and worry are more frequently 
used together, and worry has a less 
formidable sound, I have chosen to 
present it for attack under that title. 

While the evil passions align them- 
selves into two classes, as the offshoots 
of Anger and Worry; they are, in fact, 
all growths from one root. Worry (or 
fear) is the male principle, as it were, 
without which, all the others wither 
and die. For instance; if we do not 
worry, we do not fear; and if we 
do not fear aggression, or insult, or 



18 MENTICULTURE ; OR, THE 

slight, we do not become angry. We 
quarrel most frequently with what we 
Disarms f ear * s thought or intended by our 
adversary, and least frequently with 
what he actually does or thinks. On 
the other hand our adversary endows 
us with intentions which he himself 
creates, and each puts his own fuel 
on the fire, to increase the heat of the 
controversy. 

In Emancipation there is no fear, 
(or worry) and consequently no fuel 
for discord. 

Emancipation is a disarmament 
which disarms others, but adds strength 
to itself. 

To the Emancipated every mo- 
ment is a delight, or a moment of 
calm, during which he is susceptible 
only to good impressions, and the best 
interpretation of everything, no matter 
what the external conditions. Even in 
cases of sickness, the tendency of the 
emancipated mind is so inclined to 
gratitude for the limitations of the 



A-B-C OF TRUE LIVING 19 

calamity, that it has little if any room 
left for regret. Its thankful apprecia- 
tion of a half loaf of blessings, leaves 
no place for disappointment that it is 
not a whole one, and it certainly has 
no desire to question the wisdom of 
the process of evolution to which it is 
related. 

To question or to regret the inevita- 
ble seems to the emancipated mind the 
greatest folly imaginable. It certainly 
is as foolish as barking at the moon. 

" Sweet sorrow " must not be classed 
with the depressing passions. It is the 
tenderest expression of love. If tears 
of love or of sympathy spring to the 
eyes, do not repress them ; do not be 
ashamed of them ; they are like dew 
from Heaven and promote the growth 
of the soul. 

Neither must friendly rivalry, nor 
ambition to excel, be classed as ag- 
gressions; as they are phases of growth. 

The disposition of the Emancipated 
is to switch the current of the Divine 



" Sweet 
Sorrow' 



20 MENTICULTURE; OR, THE 

Spark (which is the energy of man) 
es on to wires that connect with motors 
belted to good acts, and good thoughts, 
and worthy appreciation, and to cut out 
the circuits of worry and anger and their 
branch lines entirely, leaving them to 
rust and decay through disuse. It is a 
matter of voluntary selection. The 
same effort of thought can be made 
to bless or to curse ; can stimulate to 
good or stimulate to bad ; can propel 
or retard ; can aid or obstruct ; can 
nourish or kill. 

Nature uses the same atoms to per- 
form many services of widely differing 
purpose. Where she is inanimate the 
blind and dumb law of the "survival 
of the fittest" rules supreme. In her 
lowest forms of life this law begins to 
be modified by selection, and protection 
from without. In the higher forms of 
animal life memory, and selection, and 
division of labor, and provision, and 
gratitude, show a degree of develop- 
ment that is beautiful indeed ; but it 



A-B-C OF TRUE LIVING 21 

is left to man to perfect this develop- p er f ect ; on 
ment within himself. To him is given - s 
the power, through cultivation, to pro- Divinity 
mote, without limit, growth towards 
Perfection, which is the evidence of 
Divinity in him. 

Soft mist, down-falling, from its cloud domain, 
Bathes all the thirsty land with gentle rain ; 
Again, to Heaven ascends, by sunbeams wooed, 
Then plunges back to earth in torrent mood. 

As gentle rain it swells the softening seed ; 
In torrent force, it wrecks with demon greed ; 
Now, like the radiance of a loving heart ; 
Now, like the scorching of a lightning dart. 

The self-same atom, hidden in a tear. 
May shine with love, or 'note a potent fear ; 
When bound to others form the flintiest stone ; 
Or, floating freely, bear the subtlest tone. 

Thoughts are like atoms, fashioned by the will ; 
Each has a mission, charged with good or ill ; 
Sometimes to bless ; anon to desolate ; 
Love's messenger; or harbinger of hate. 

In Nature's hands, one atom plays two parts, 
As may be needed in her several arts ; 
In man alone, should love forever shine ; 
Displacing hate ; proclaiming man Divine. 

Love, and Appreciation, and Grati- 
tude, — the ever-present and ever- 



22 



MENTICULTURE 



Emancipa- 
tion not 
Pharisee- 



faithful handmaids of Emancipation, — 
are the natural and only conditions 
favorable to growth ; they are the less 
assertive but stronger attributes which 
are always waiting to occupy the places 
left vacant by anger and worry, and 
to fill the "void which Nature abhors." 
Born of them is that other Divine at- 
tribute called Help or Charity, and 
together they stimulate to good action 
and good thought, and lift into life 
that plant of the soul, the Divine 
Responsibility of each member of the 
human family. 

Anger and worry are the rankest 
forms of Egotism. 

Emancipation is the reverse of 
Phariseeism. Phariseeism is self-suffi- 
ciency ; while Emancipation shows its 
desire for growth, through the prepara- 
tion of its mental and spiritual entity 
for unimpaired growth, by clearing it 
of the weeds of egotism. 



A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE 



23 



A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE 

It was my privilege one evening to g rnest 
be with Prof. Fenollosa in his Japan- F ranc j scc 
esque apartment in Boston. Almost Fenollosa 
every article in view was the product of 
some Japanese artist who had been the 
friend of Prof. Fenollosa in Japan. 
The odor of incense added perceptibly 
to the calming influence of the envir- 
onment. 

Many years ago we had met in far- 
off Japan amid similar surroundings, 
and had discussed theories of true 
living that had been a source of great 
pleasure to me, and whose influence 
had been with me to many countries 
and climes, helping me to enjoy more 
fully than I otherwise could, the beau- 
ties of nature, and of art, and of life. 

We were exchanging the experi- 
ences of the intervening years, and I 
became acutely interested in his ac- 
25 



26 MENTICULTURE ; OR, THE 

count of the wonderful degree of cult- 
ure and self-control attained by some 
of his Japanese friends through the 
practice of the Buddhist discipline. 

It was all so interesting and beauti- 
ful, that under the spell of the recital 
and the surroundings, I longed to taste 
some of the sweets of the calm he pic- 
tured, and begged him to tell me the 
process of the discipline, so that per- 
chance I might follow it and reap some 
of the benefits. 

The philosopher saw that I was 
serious in my desire, and his face lit 
up with approval as he said, " It is not 
easy to communicate at a sitting what 
took me years of study to learn, but I 
can at least put you in the way of a 
start. I can tell you where to begin to 
grow. You must first get rid of anger 
and worry T "But," said I, "is that 
possible?" "Yes," replied he, "it is 
possible to the Japanese, and ought to 
be possible to us. 

I was startled at the suggestion of 



Get rid of 

Anger 

Worry 



A-B-C OF TRUE LIVING 27 

the possibility of the entire repression 

of anger and worry. I knew that their „ 

11 j u /~l • Anger and 
repression was counselled by Chris- w ° 

tianity and Buddhism, and presumably 
by all codes of religion and ethics; but 
I had never considered getting rid of 
them as a human possibility, except 
under conditions of health and wealth 
and ease, to which few, if any, ever 
attain. 

On my walk back to the Parker 
House, a distance of fully two miles, I 
could not think of anything else but 
the words, "get rid" "get rid;" and 
the idea must have continued to pos- 
sess me during my sleeping hours, for 
the first consciousness in the morning 
brought back the same thought, with 
the revelation of a discovery, which 
framed itself into the reasoning, 
" If it is possible to get rid of anger 
and worry, why is it necessary to have 
them at all ?" I felt the strength of 
the argument and at once accepted the 
reasoning. The baby had discovered 



28 MENTICULTURE; OR, THE 



that it could walk. It would scorn to 
creep any longer. 

From the instant I realized that 



Anger and 

Worry 

Instantly 

Removed these cancer spots of worry and anger 
were removable, they left me. With 
the discovery of their weakness they 
were exorcised. From that time life 
has had an entirely changed aspect. 

Although from that moment the 
possibility and desirability of freedom 
from the depressing passions has been 
a reality to me, it took me some months 
to feel absolute security in my new 
position; but, as the usual occasions for 
worry and anger have presented them- 
selves over and over again, and I 
have been unable to feel them in the 
slightest degree, I no longer dread or 
guard against them, and I am amazed 
at my increased energy and vigor of 
mind; — at my strength to meet situa- 
tions of all kinds, and at my disposition 
to love and appreciate everything. 
I have had occasion to travel more 



Wonderful 
Photo- 
graphic 



A-B-C OF TRUE LIVING 29 

than ten thousand miles by rail since 
that morning ; North, South, East and 
West, with the varying comforts and 
discomforts, as they used to be. The J 
same Pullman porter, conductor, hotel 
waiter, peddler, book-agent, cabman, 
and others, who were formerly a source 
of annoyance and irritation have been 
met, but I am not conscious of a single 
incivility. All at once the whole 
world has turned good to me. I am 
sure the change is not so much in the 
world as in me. I have become, as it 
were, sensitive only to the rays of 
good, as some photographic films of 
recent invention are sensitive only to 
certain single colored rays of light. 
If we are wise we never leave 
school. When the academy and the 
college have put us through their cur- 
riculum, we have still before us the 
example of Nature, and the walks of 
Science, and Art, and Brotherhood, in 
which to search for suggestions to be 



30 MENTICULTURE; OR, THE 

Sensitive a PP^ e( ^ ' n menticulture. May we not 
only to l earn a lesson from the newly discov- 

Good ered film ? 

Should not the chemical condition of 
selection be more difficult than a similar 
voluntary mental accomplishment? In 
comparison with a similar process in 
physics the more pliable material of 
the mind ought to be fashioned with 
greater ease. 

I could recount many experiences 
which prove a brand new condition of 
mind, but one more will be sufficient. 
Without the slightest feeling of annoy- 
ance or impatience I have seen a train 
that I had planned to take with a good 
deal of interested and pleasurable an- 
ticipation, move out of a station with- 
out me, because my baggage did not 
arrive. The porter from the hotel 
came running and panting into the 
station just as the train pulled out of 
sight. When he saw me he looked as 
if he feared a scolding, and began to tell 
of being blocked in a crowded street 



A-B-C OF TRUE LIVING 3 1 

and unable to get out. When he had * 
finished, I said to him, " It doesn't p ortuna t e 
matter at all, you couldn't help it, so rj} sa p. 
we will try it again to-morrow. Here pointment 
is your fee, I am sorry you had all 
this trouble in earning it." The 
look of surprise that came over his 
face was so filled with pleasure that I 
was repaid on the spot for the delay in 
my departure. Next day he would 
not accept a cent for the service, and 
he and I are friends for life. The 
sequence of this incident has no bear- 
ing on its value, but it has a signifi- 
cance. Had I taken the train I 
missed, I would have been caught in a 
wreck in which two persons were 
killed and several wounded, while my 
stay over in Cleveland proved to be 
both pleasant and profitable. 

During the first weeks of my expe- 
rience I was on guard only against 
worry and anger ; but, in the mean- 
time, having noticed the absence of 
the other depressing and dwarfing 



32 MENTICULTURE; OR, THE 

passions, I began to trace a relation- 
ship, until I was convinced that they 
are all growths from the two roots I 
have specified. 

I have felt the freedom now for so 
long a time that I am sure of my rela- 
tions toward it; and I could no more 
harbor any of the depressing and 
thieving influences that once I nursed 
as a heritage of humanity than a fop 
would voluntarily wallow in a filthy 
gutter: and the strength of the position 
is reinforced by the experience of 
others. 

There is no doubt in my mind that 
pure Christianity, and pure Buddhism, 
and the Mental Sciences, and all Reli- 
gions, fundamentally teach what has 
been a discovery to me; but none of 
them have presented it in the light of 
a simple and easy process of absolute 
elimination. All of the religions 
seemed to me to hinge principally on 
some other life, with the usual features 
of punishment and reward, and with 



A-B-C OF TRUE LIVING S3 

incidental satisfaction or fear in this 
life. But as life reveals itself to me in 
my present condition of mind, this 
world, these fellow men, the blush 
of Spring, the blossom of Summer, 
the flame of Autumn, the sparkle 
of Winter, and the violet-softened 
refulgence of every waking moment 
yield a never failing succession of 
delights. 

At one time I wondered if elimina- 
tion of the passions would not lead to 
indifference and sloth. In my experi- 
ence the contrary is the result. I feel 
such an increased desire to do some- 
thing useful that it seems as if I were 
a boy again and the energy for play 
had returned. I could fight as readily 
as, (and better) than ever, if there were 
occasion for it. It does not make one 
a coward. It can't, since fear is one of 
the things eliminated. 

That fear is gotten rid of with 
worry is proven in many ways. I no- 
tice the absence of timidity in the 



Fear 
Eliminated 



34 MENTICULTURE; OR, THE 

5 llfnfl . presence of any audience I am called 
Modified on to f ace > whereas I had never before 
conquered a tendency to partial paraly- 
sis on such occasions. Timidity re- 
sulting from a shock has been cured 
also. When I was a boy I was 
standing under a tree which was 
struck by lightning and received a 
shock, from the effects of which I 
never knew exemption until I had 
dissolved partnership with worry. 
Since then lightning, and thunder, and 
storm clouds, with wind-swept torrents 
of rain have been encountered under 
conditions which formerly would have 
caused great depression and discom- 
fort, without experiencing a trace of 
either. Surprise is also greatly modi- 
fied, and one is less liable to become 
startled by unexpected sights or noises. 
Temperaments may differ, but Eman- 
cipation strengthens all. 

It has been suggested to me, in 
argument, that in Nature there is sun- 
shine and shadow, and that every 



A-B-C OF TRUE LIVING 35 

height must have a corresponding de- 
pression, and that immunity from the 
black or shadowy passions is an un- 
natural condition. This is not true. 
In the process of growth and evolution, 
conditions that once were natural, are 
changed to other conditions equally 
natural. Weeds are pulled up by the 
roots to clear the fields for the grow- 
ing grain. Why should not mental 
weeds be pulled up by the roots also, 
and the mind cleared for growth ? 

My experience teaches me that the 
natural evolution of the emancipated 
mind is dominant calm, varied by sea- 
sons of exaltation, but never of depres- 
sion. It is a healthful succession of 
energy and rest, all blessed with loving 
appreciation, which finds expression 
in ever-present gratitude. 

One morning recently I heard my- 
self audibly thank the clock for strik- 
ing the time for me, and each awaken- 
ing is as if on a much desired holiday, 
no matter what the conditions of the 



I thanked 
the clock 



Heaven 

Here hand ' 



36 MENTICULTURE; OR, THE 
weather or the comforts of life at 



Contentment and happiness and 
gratitude and Heaven are generally ac- 
cepted as synonymous terms; but Eman- 
cipation embraces them all, and in it 
only can they all be found. 

As far as I am individually con- 
cerned I am not bothering myself at pres- 
ent as to what the result of this emanci- 
pated condition may be. I have no doubt 
that the perfect health aimed at by 
Christian Science may be one of the 
possibilities, for I note a marked im- 
provement in the way my stomach 
does its duty in assimilating the food 
I give it to handle, and I am sure 
it works better to the sound of a 
song than under the friction of a 
frown. Neither am I wasting any 
of this precious time formulating an 
idea of a future existence or a future 
Heaven. The Heaven that I have 
found within myself is as attractive as 
any that has been promised or that I 



A-B-C OF TRUE LIVING tf 

can imagine; and I am willing to let 
the growth lead where it will, as long R fi . 
as anger and worry and their brood 
have no part in misguiding it; but I 
feel the value of Mental Emancipation 
to be so great that I long to spread the 
news of the discovery of an easy and 
immediate means of attaining it. 

The practical benefit of the eman- 
cipated mind to the individual, and of 
the emancipated individual to the com- 
munity, can not be over-estimated. 
In every walk in life Emancipation is 
invaluable to the worker, and the 
most potent aid to success. The 
emancipated peanut vender will have 
more customers than his worm- 
eaten neighbor. The emancipated 
merchant will find that trade will pass 
the door of his calamity-howling rival 
and come to him. The emancipated 
writer will find writing an easy and 
pleasant task as compared with that of 
his moody confrere, and that if he has 
occasion to dip his pen in vinegar he 



38 MENTICULTURE ; OR, THE 

can wield it better under the influence 
of judicial calm than he can between 

the gulps of rebellious indigestion. To 
Woman ° r . ° 

woman Emancipation means every- 
thing. Any other condition to her is 
like an ill fitting garment, and every 
lapse from it is like adding a blotch 
to her complexion which succeeding 
smiles can never entirely efface. 
Each expression of a shadowy passion 
leaves a scar. The Emancipation of 
woman would mean the Emancipation 
of the race. The adoption of the 
germ cure will be woman's means 
to that end, and Emancipation will be 
her Heaven and man's Heaven at the 
same time. 

The influence of emancipated indi- 
viduals in a community could be 
made so great that if there were only 
one in ten, and they should organize 
in clubs for the purpose, they would 
attract or rule the rest for good, 
and something better than the social 
Utopia pictured by Edward Bellamy in 



Emanci- 



All Ills 



A-B-C OF TRUE LIVING 39 

"Looking Backward " would follow as 
a natural sequence, and save us from the 
threatened battle between capital and J. 
labor, which otherwise seems inevita- 
ble. The horrors of such a conflict 
cannot be imagined; and, unless the 
germ cure is sought to avert it, it is 
sure to come. 

The germ cure of the evil passions 
in the individual, followed by the germ 
cure of social clumsiness in the body 
politic, form the only hope of Emanci- 
pation from the evils which beset the 
social structure. For these there is no 
real necessity. There is already such a 
surplus of mechanical energy, such a 
surplus of creature comforts, and such a 
surplus of luxuries on our planet, that 
a moderately sensible distribution 
of them, would render every inhab- 
itant comfortable and happy. Among 
the Emancipated the desire to make 
a generous distribution of these sur- 
plus stores would be as natural as 
is the habit of recognizing "the rule of 



40 MENTICULTURE; OR, THE 

_, . the road " anions us all to-day. So 

Thirty . , & . , J 

, also, the vast amount of surplus energy 

years ol t r °- 7 

Travel DOrn of Emancipation would find a nat- 
ural outlet in the arts. 

In suggesting the possibility of a 
Social Paradise or Community Heaven, 
it is presupposed that education along 
the lines of both intellectual and man- 
ual training will have become universal, 
and that every one shall render service 
to his fellows according to his strength; 
also that idleness, when one should 
work, and deception in trade, will have 
come to be classed as crimes, and not 
as evidences of " shrewdness." 

It has been my good fortune to 
travel to and fro over the earth's sur- 
face for thirty years, years of exper- 
ience passed among the people of 
many different nations. I have made 
quick comparisons of the habits 
and customs of them all; and I 
have observed how easily some do 
things that others perform clumsily. 
The standard measure ot my com- 



A-B-C OF TRUE LIVING 41 

parison has always been Japan. I 
could not help observing there less 
crime, better appreciation of art and 
nature, more physical dexterity and 
skill, fewer notes out of harmony, and 
more general happiness, gentleness, 
and consideration for fellows and ani- 
mals ; less (almost no) religious or 
sectional prejudice; a universal patri- 
otism and respect for authority (as 
good children are respectful of the 
authority of beloved parents); a love 
of life, but no fear of death ; and many 
other qualities that have commanded 
the respect of the world under the 
bright light of recent events. 

Brave, gentle, artistic, lovable little 
Japan, which, thirty odd years ago, 
was nursing in quiet seclusion a beauti- 
ful flower of artistic civilization, has been 
rudely but providentially forced into 
the community of nations to teach the 
rest of the world a great lesson in 
the art of true living. By the exer- 
cise of judicious but resistless courage 



Brave 
Little 
Japan 



42 MENTICULTURE; OR, THE 

she has laid the Oriental Colossus 

who attacked her at her feet ; and 

if the bulldog and buzzard nations of 

r> r . the West, do not unite their forces to 
Religions 

obstruct her inclination, she will lift 
her fallen foe from a condition of 
slavery to barbarous aliens to a con- 
dition of tranquillity and happiness. 
She will do this through the introduc- 
tion of reforms in government and 
administration which she has gathered 
from the best experience of all the 
world. What a missionary Japan is ! 
A missionary of the art of true living. 
A missionary of harmony. The con- 
tact of Japan with the other nations 
made the World's Congress of Relig- 
ions possible ; and what this means to 
the advancement of man on the road to 
harmony and happiness, was recently 
stated by Prof. Max Muller, when he 
prophesied that this event would come 
to be appreciated as the greatest civil- 
izing influence of the Nineteenth cen- 
tury. 



A-B-C OF TRUE LIVING 



43 



May the example of Japan set the 
boors of the world to thinking, cause 
them to take their fore feet out of the 
trough, look up to the sun and the 
light of dawning civilization, accept 
the simple teachings of Christ and 
Buddha and common sense, and start 
a Heaven here on earth. Steam and 
electricity have brought the extremes 
of our earth together ; the telescope 
has let us into the secrets of the neigh- 
boring worlds, and logic and common 
sense may find in the possibility of 
Emancipation a means of bringing 
Heaven to us in this life. 



Extremes 

Brought 

Together 



A DISCUSSION 



45 



A DISCUSSION 

WHICH FOLLOWED THE READING OF THE 
FOREGOING PAPER 

"Can anger and worry be entirely 

eliminated from the human mind? " 

„,, i -iiiii. Advocated 

Yes; they are simply bad habits - 

of the mind, parasites, unnatural, and 
therefore uncivilized conditions, nursed 
by false ideas of pride or necessity; and 
their elimination is a purely mental 
process within the control of every 
intelligent person who has sufficient 
self-respect to recognize within him- 
self the reflection of the Divine 
Image." 

" In what does the germ cure of 
mental ills differ from the Christian 
method of repression through answer to 
prayer ? ' ' 

" Christ clearly advocated the germ 

47 



48 MENTICULTURE; OR, THE 

^ cure. He did not say ' Try to do un- 

Emancipa- , , , , 

tion not to otners as y ou would have others 
Weakness ^° unto y ou >' Dut ^° unto others,' 
etc. ' Be ye perfect as your Father in 
Heaven is perfect.' In all of his 
teachings do and be were the com- 
mands. Most of the creeds, however, 
endow man with a weakness which 
is self-condemning. The prayers are 
offered perfunctorily, and sometimes 
without belief in their efficacy, while 
the passions are nursed privately in 
full belief that they are essential attri- 
butes of fallen man." 

"May not the elimination of anger 
and worry take away some of the stimu- 
lation to effort that is necessary to human 
progress?" 

" Assuredly not. The absence of 
anger and worry is an evidence of 
strength and not of weakness. So- 
called righteous anger is a weakness in 
the presence of judicial calm. Without 
anger and worry one is stronger to 
ward off a blow, administer a correc- 



Evidence 



A-B-C OF TRUE LIVING 49 

tion, or protect a principle. The eman- 
cipated mind is as eager for effort as a 
child is for play. Freed from anger ; 
and worry one can shovel more dirt, 
plough more furrows, perform every 
duty better, and with less fatigue, than 
if under their influence." 

"Are there examples in every -day life, 
among' every-day people, that prove the 
possibility of superiority over anger and 
worry? " 

" Yes. Habitually profane men do 
not swear in the presence of ladies. 
Vicious men are gentle when among 
those whom they respect. The pas- 
sions are subservient to the will 
under conditions that reverence or 
fashion prescribe. If they are subser- 
vient under any conditions they can be 
controlled under all conditions. Nothing 
for instance, could make you angry 
while we are talking on this subject, 
because you would feel ashamed to 
show slavery to a condemned and 
unmanly weakness." 



Why not 

Always 

Known 



50 MENTICULTURE ; OR, THE 

"If it is possible to get rid of the 
depressing passions, and they are so un- 
profitable, why has not mankind become 
emancipated long before this?''' 

" This question can best be an- 
swered by asking others. Why were a 
personal devil and witches and filmy 
ghosts considered possibilities as late 
as the beginning of this century? Why 
was human slavery believed to be a 
divine institution by the majority of 
the world's inhabitants as late as fifty 
years ago? Why are the divine right of 
kings, and the assumption that the sov- 
ereign can do no wrong, possibilities of 
the present? Why is it possible that 
a Supreme Court of the United States 
can be divided on questions of political 
significance, and the points of difference 
of opinion be in harmony with the pre- 
vious political affiliations of the jus- 
tices? Politics represent the selfish in 
human contact as at present managed, 
while justice is supposed to be spot- 



A-B-C OF TRUE LIVING 51 

Iessly unselfish ; yet the former un- 
blushingly invades the sanctuary of the 
latter, because selfishness is held to 
be a necessity." 

" Is not the condition of Emancipation 
selfish? Is it not selfish not to worry 
for one s friend, even if self -worry is 
eliminated? " 

" Emphatically, no ! Emancipation 
puts one in a condition to be unselfish. 
Suppose his friend need aid or sympa- 
thy ; will worry furnish either ? With 
the extirpation of the depressing pas- 
sions comes the strength, and the abil- 
ity, and the desire, to give to others, 
the aid and sympathy they may be in 
need of. Actu al, or even metaphori- 
cal, wringing of hands, is not the sort 
of sympathy that soothes. It is like 
the " blind leading the blind," or rather, 
the weak trying to assist the weak. 
Better try to help with the strength 
born of Emancipation than with the 
weakness of the enervating passions." 

" / can easily understand how anger 



Emancipa- 
tion not 
Selfish 



52 MENTICULTURE; OR, THE 

^ , can be classed as a sin, because it is 
Une s . 

First <^SS resswe an d affects something outside 
Dutv °f us; as a s * n > ^ can see ^ ow H ou ght to 
be cast out; but as worry deals only with 
one s self, I do not believe it can be 
called a sin ; then why is it necessary to 
eliminate it, especially as it may be an 
incentive to action, to prevent the causes 
of the worry? " 

" This whole question has been an- 
swered before in the presentation of 
the theory, but as it has not carried 
the force of impression that I intended, 
I will take it up piecemeal, and try to 
be more clear. 

" In the first place, one's first duty is 
to one's self in the matter of cultiva- 
tion and care ; this, not on account of 
egotism or selfishness, but in order to 
fit him to be strong and useful and a 
good member of his circle. As a 
parent, he should make himself the 
most perfect progenitor and example 
possible; as a member of Society he 
should aim to be the most able and 



A-B-C OF TRUE LIVING 53 

useful; and as the custodian of the... 

T ^. . ' ..... . . ..Woman 

Divine bssence within him, he should ~ 

not harbor or encourage weeds of the tun j t 
soul, whether visible to others, or with- 
in the secret corners of his own 
heart. 

" As to worry ever being an incentive 
to wise or good action, I will repeat a 
section of the theory. ' Worry's pro- 
phesies are seldom realized, and if they 
are, the realization is generally caused 
by the worry itself.'" 

"How can emancipation be secured 
for the community?" 

"Through the influence of the eman- 
cipated individual; chiefly through the 
influence of the emancipated woman. In 
the crossing of sabers she cannot assist; 
but in a war against the enemies of the 
mind, when love is the weapon, she 
can and will occupy a place in the 
front rank. She can make anger and 
worry unfashionable, as she already has 
made profanity and obscenity unfash- 
ionable. 



54 MENTICULTURE; OR, THE 

" To accomplish this, let clubs be 
tion Clubs formed in each community and in each 
church, and let each church become a 
club-house as well. Introduce health- 
ful amusements such as make other 
clubs attractive, and place in large 
letters over the portal and the altar 

GROWTH 

EMANCIPATION 

HELP. 

You will have then constantly before 
you the only cure for mental cancers, 
and the essence of all religions ex- 
pressed in three words ; you will have 
touched the button of the Divine cam- 
era within you whose film is sensitive 
only to the rays of good. Love and 
growth will do the rest. The teachers 
of morality and religion will do abler 
work under the realization that not 
only the ' old Adam,' but the Divine 
Essence as well, have seats in each 
human soul, and that, when the good 



A-B-C OF TRUE LIVING 55 

is appealed to in terms of confidence ~. . . 

, , ,. ., ... . Christian 

and understanding, evil will be cast out c . , . 
, m Societies 

instantly, without a lifetime of contro- 
versy, and without waiting for eternity, 
or even for the death-bed to unloose 
the fetters. 

As a result of organization on 
the basis of Emancipation, and when 
it has become an accepted fact that 
anger and worry are only bad habits 
of the mind, no clergyman can show 
them and retain the respect of his 
congregation ; no King's Daughter 
can entertain them and be worthy of 
her badge ; no member of the Christ- 
ian Endeavor Society can harbor 
within himself the arch enemies of 
Christianity which the Master com- 
manded his disciples to cast out, and 
be loyal to his cause ; and no individual 
in the pursuit of duty, or even of sel- 
fish pleasure, can afford to carry such 
weighty handicaps and hope to win the 
race." 



PLYMOUTH CHURCH CLUB 

AND 

ARMOUR INSTITUTE 



57 



PLYMOUTH CHURCH CLUB AND 
ARMOUR INSTITUTE 

A good example of a church club 
is that which forms a part of Plymouth 
Church in Chicago. Plymouth Club 
was founded by Dr. Scudder and is 
warmly encouraged by Dr. Frank W. 
Gunsaulus, the present pastor of the 
church. Dr. Gunsaulus is also presi- 
dent of Armour Institute, where man- 
ual training is taught side by side with 
letters and the sciences to men and 
women alike. In these two eminently 
practical organizations most of the 
conditions favorable to growth are 
already furnished. Add to these 
Emancipation as the motto of the 
club, and as the requisite mental ac- 
complishment for admission to the 
school, and the conditions will be per- 
fected to the highest degree. 

59 



Frank W. 
Gunsaulus 



60 MENTICULTURE; OR, THE 

The word Emancipation has a very 

formidable sound because it is asso- 
Presidents .... . . 

ciated with a great war; but its attain- 
Respon- ° 

ment through germ eradication is a 

simple and easy accomplishment. 

The presidents of great mental and 
manual training institutions know that 
the depressing and dwarfing phantoms 
of the mind are merely bad habits — 
weeds that can be rooted out — and 
that anger and worry are the roots. 

They have provided commodious 
buildings, learned professors, the most 
perfect chemical and mechanical appli- 
ances, and thousands of books, to aid 
mental and manual culture; and yet, 
they fail to apply the first principle of 
all their sciences to the preparation of 
the pupil. In horticulture they do not 
tolerate worms or weeds; in chemistry 
they first examine into the purity of 
the ingredients; and in mechanics the 
greatest care is taken to avoid friction. 
Anger and worry are conditions of ex- 
treme mental friction, which, during 



A-B-C OF TRUE LIVING 6l 

their presence, stop the progressive 
action of the mental machine. 

It would impose no impossibility, 
neither would it entail any hardship, 
to require of students that they should 
subscribe to the following: 

Science teaches, and experience corrob- 
orates the fact, that the depressing or 
evil passions are bad habits of the mind, 
and not necessary ingredients. 

Anger and worry are the roots of the 
evil passions and can be pulled out. 

In order to promote the best possible 
growth it is required that Emancipation 
should be the rule of life of the student. 

Under the suggestion of the possi- 
bility of Emancipation from undesira- 
ble mental enemies, emanating from 
so respected a source as the faculty 
of a chosen college, the student would 
acquire the prerequisite condition of 
"faith"; while the absorbing work of 
college life, surrounded by fellows 
working in sympathy with him, would 
strengthen the faith into a belief; and 



A Rule 
of Life 



62 MENTICULTURE 

the immediate recompense of harmony 

would be evidence of its value as a 
tion will i r it 

rule of lite. 

From the school the student would 
carry the rule back into the family, and 
into all walks in life; and with the aid 
of present means of communication 
the influence would spread the world 
over, disarm the prodigious prepara- 
tions for struggle that are being made, 
and distribute the palm branch to take 
the place of the sword. 

Will not the great educators whom 
the world respects so highly, and in 
whom it has so much faith, try the 
experiment? The promised fruit is 
worth the trial. 



DIAGNOSIS AND REMEDY 



63 



DIAGNOSIS AND REMEDY 

It is believed b}' many, that Society Degenera- 
and Politics, at the present time, are tion 
badly diseased. Mr. Max Nordau's 
diagnosis of them, which he entitled 
Degeneration, has met with general 
approval. Legislative (especially mu- 
nicipal) corruption, and the degrada- 
tion of some of the courts, are open 
evidence of the fact. Statesmanship 
and Politics have been divorced, and 
are already strangers to each other. 
The marriage of Might and Right, has 
been sanctioned by popular consent. 
Power is no longer used as a lever with 
which to uplift the weak, but has been 
transformed into a social crushing ma- 
chine. Caste, ostentation, dissipation, 
and insincerity, are the established 
idols that lure the present generation 
towards greedy ambition. 
65 



66 MENTICULTURE; OR, THE 

It is also believed, and is perhaps 



Break 



true, that the social ulcers have been 
so irritated by ostentatious rivalry, and 
the commercial ulcers are so distended 
with the pus of ruinous competition 
and corruption, that they must soon 
come to a head, and that convalescence 
and cure may be possibilities of the 
future. 

While these symptoms of disease 
are visible to all, and are tolerated as 
necessary evils, they fortunately do not 
cover the whole body politic; but yet, 
they seriously disfigure its face, and 
grievously affect the healthy action of 
its heart. 

In the political world, many agents 
are actively at work to effect cure of 
the evils which flaunt unblushing in the 
face of the public. The Committee of 
Seventy in New York, The Civic Fed- 
eration in Chicago, and the National 
Municipal Reform League of the United 
States, are all doing good temporary 
work, but they do not reach the root 



A-B-C OF TRUE LIVING 67 

causes of the evils they aim to correct; 
and it is doubtful if the reforms they 
accomplish will be any more permanent 
than were those of their equally zeal- 
ous predecessors. 

In the moral and religious world, 
much the same futile methods of cure 
through repression are in use that ob- 
tained during the Dark Middle Ages. 

In the individual, phantoms of the 
imagination, whose presence impose 
stagnation and disease, are created 
and clothed with the authority of mas- 
ters, under the belief that they are the 
curses which bind fallen men to earth ; 
and this in contradiction of every 
assurance and promise of Christ ; in 
opposition to all intelligent methods 
of culture used in connection with ani- 
mals and plants ; and contrary to com- 
mon sense. 

These are strong statements, but 
they are indisputable ; and if they are 
true, what then, is the remedy? 

As previously stated, the only cure is 



Task not 



68 MENTICULTURE; OR, THE 

the germ cure; and, beginning with the 
Difficult individual. 

The task is not a difficult one. 
Appreciation of the limitations of the 
power of the depressing passions, and 
one's strength to extirpate them, and 
to be superior to them, are the only 
necessary prerequisites to victory. 
There is no tedious discipline, as in the 
various methods of repression in 
vogue; and dividends are immediately 
and continuously collectable on the 
fair face of the investment. No rule 
of conduct is necessary; for, out of 
Emancipation, only good conduct, to fit 
environing circumstances, can be ex- 
pected ; and yet, every Christian, every 
Jew, every Buddhist, every Moham- 
metan, every Free Mason, and every 
Odd Fellow, can accept Emancipation 
as a rule of life, without renouncing 
his other faiths and affiliations, be- 
cause it is the fundamental principle of 
them all, expressed in terms of present 
knowledge, and unclouded by the 



A-B-C OF TRUE LIVING 69 

shadows of ignorance and superstition, 
which gave the name of Dark Ages to Skeptii 
a period of our history. 

And outside of these devotees, 
there is the great mass of men, the so- 
called Skeptics, who claim to adhere 
to logic, and scientific sense, for their 
light on spiritual, as well as on material 
subjects. To these, Emancipation will 
be a haven of repose for their spirit- 
ual yearnings; and, unimpeded growth, 
under Divinely natural conditions, 
"will do the rest" for them all. 



PRESCRIPTION 



PRESCRIPTION 

One grain of the assurance of Christ 
that man is made in the image of God. A Simple 

One grain of respect for the respon- R - 
sibility of the care and culture of the 
Divine Essence with which we have 
been entrusted. 

One grain of the command of Christ 
(implying a possibility) " Be ye per- 
fect, as your Father in Heaven is per- 
fect." 

One grain of the example of Buddha 
that man can grow to perfection through 
the elimination of anger and worry 
and their brood of dependent pas- 
sions. 

One grain of the wisdom of Aris- 
totle which declared that the passions 
are habits of the mind, and can be got- 
ten rid of as physical habits are gotten 
rid of. 

73 



The 

Ever-full 

Never-full 



74 MENT1CULTURE 

One grain of the assurance of Omar 
Khayyam that Heaven and Hell are 
within ourselves. 

One grain of the assurance of Christ 
that "the Kingdom of Heaven is at 
hand." 

One grain of common sense applied 
to an analysis of mental handicaps and 
the discovery of their limitations. 

One grain of the to-day experience 
of the author that anger and worry are 
the roots of all the passions which de- 
press, and can be eliminated. 

DIRECTIONS. 

Take: and then let 

The ever-full, never-full bounty of love, 
Sing a song, tell a tale, strike a chord, from above, 
Soften strife out of life, find a pleasure in giving, 
Sound the kev-note on earth, of the Art of True Living. 



SCRAPS OF EVIDENCE 



75 



SCRAPS OF EVIDENCE 

Early in life I was fortunate enough E v :^ ence 
to acquire the belief that, what seemed $ OU ght 
to be the consensus of opinion of the 
learned in any art or science, ought 
to be true; and, accepting their dictum, 
I have tried to grow up to an appre- 
ciation of their intelligence or taste 
in the subjects of their study, without 
combatting it with my own callow im- 
pressions. In this way I have enjoyed 
an early appreciation of the classics 
in music and in art, much in advance of 
the ordinary experience derived from 
personal contact. In this spirit of in- 
vestigation I have collected some 
scraps of evidence which all prove my 
theory. No one has denied the possi- 
bility of Emancipation, but every one 
has found a pleasure at once in the ray 
of hope it suggests. 

Since my attention has been direct- 

77 



sician 



78 MENTICULTURE; OR, THE 

A p, r ed to the possible total emancipation 
from the depressing passions, I have 
taken occasion to interview every man 
who seemed to enjoy unclouded hap- 
piness, as to the secret of his happi- 
ness. In almost every instance I have 
learned that the emancipated condi- 
tion has dated, not from infancy and 
inheritance, but from some incident in 
later life that exposed the passions to 
ridicule, or showed them to be a cause 
of danger; such as death as the result 
of worry, or crime as the result of 
anger ; some object lesson which 
proved the danger of permitting the 
passions to absorb one. I enquired of 

A PHYSICIAN 

who has recently been selected by 
vote of the members of his profes- 
sion to a position of honor among 
them, and who is conspicuous for 
his enjoyment of such healthful recrea- 
tion as only much younger men usu- 
ally enjoy, whether he did not consider 



A-B-C OF TRUE LIVING 79 

anger and worry habits of the mind, 
and not as necessary ingredients. "Cer- 
tainly," said he, "and I know it to be 
true by the best possible evidence, the 
evidence of experience." After some 
further questioning I was able to get 
from him the following story: "When 
I was a boy I had an ungovernable 
temper which brought from, my neigh- 
bors the prediction that I would come 
to some bad end. At school I was 
known as one of the four or five 
'roosters.' There was scarcely a day 
that a ring was not formed, and some 
of us 'roosters' did not engage in a 
fight. I followed my studies pretty 
closely, however, in pursuance of a 
natural inclination to be ' on top,' but 
without any laudable ambition in con- 
nection with them, and finally gradu- 
ated in medicine and began practice. 
I suffered great annoyance from horses 
and servants, and quarreled with them 
constantly, and got mad at my patients 
if they showed any unreasonable ten- 



Possessed 
of Devils 



80 MENTICULTURE; OR, THE 

£ manc j.dencies; until one day it came to me 
pation as a sudden revelation, that, what most 
Assures hindered them from getting well, was 
Success the very thing that possessed me the 
greater part of the time, and made me 
disagreeable to myself and others; and 
I resolved to master myself as I had 
tried to master others. From that 
time I date my success in life, and 
certainly my happiness. I will not al- 
low anything to worry me. If a driver 
or other servant does not please me, 
I do not quarrel with him, but pay 
him off, and let him go with the best 
of feeling. I have a collector who is 
very faithful, and very candid at the 
same time. When he fails to collect 
an account that is due, I sometimes 
ask him the reason, and he repeats to 
me what my patient has said. One 
day I questioned him about an account 
that had been long overdue, against 
a patient whom I met cordially every 
day at the club, but who was evidently 
'short' at the time and suffered annoy- 



A-B-C OF TRUE LIVING 8 1 

ance from collectors. 'What did he 
say?' said I. 'He said, sir, "Tell the L 
doctor to go to hell," replied the honest * 
collector. Most men would have taken 
offense at the message, and prosecuted 
his patient for the debt, or 'cut' him, 
or expressed anger in some way; but I 
simply didn't go where he had ordered, 
and never referred to the matter with 
him. We are the best of friends now, 
and he is one of my warmest advo- 
cates." 

A MANUFACTURER 

The president of one of the largest 
manufacturing corporations in the 
country, having properties in a dozen 
states, related to me the following 
story : 

"Some years ago I journeyed south 
with a railroad magnate who stood 
very high at the time in the railway 
world. We came to a river crossed 
by his road. The bridge had been 
washed away, and, while it was rebuild- 



82 MENTICULTURE; OR, THE 

ing, trains were ferried to the further 
a shores. Owing to some accident there 
was no boat on hand to transport the 
official's car across the stream. He 
became so angry that he flew into a 
wild passion, and cursed and dis- 
charged the subordinates in charge of 
the division without inquiry as to the 
cause of the delay. He learned after- 
ward that the accident to the boat 
was unavoidable, and that none of the 
employes whom he had insulted so 
grossly and discharged so unfairly 
were responsible for it ; but he was too 
proud to apologize. 

"The incident made such an impres- 
sion on me, that I resolved never to 
show anger again before my em- 
ployes ; and I have kept my resolve. 
It has led to my renouncing the habit 
altogether, and for many years anger 
has ceased to be a component part 
of my nature. I am sorry that I did not 
discharge worry at the same time, as 
results have proved that it has had 



A-B-C OF TRUE LIVING 83 

no real cause to exist ; and it has, as _ . , 

, ... Did not 

you say, stolen much precious time -^ , 

and energy out of my life." Angry 

A MADMAN T 

Another example of the possible 
control of the passions, and a most 
important one, is told by another 
friend. One of the chums of his 
youth had fits of anger during which 
he was possessed with an insatiable 
desire to kill the object of his wrath, if 
it happened to be a living being, or to 
break it if it were inanimate. During 
his seasons of calm he deplored his 
weakness, and resolved not to permit 
it to take possession of him. He 
stopped being angry because he was 
afraid of the consequences. He did 
not dare to be angry. As a result he 
has lived a life filled with charity and 
consideration for others, which has 
been a blessing to himself and those 
about him. 



84 MENTICULTURE; OR, THE 



MR. DANA 

Mr. Charles A. Dana once sent a 
member of the staff of the New York 



Hard 

Work 

Never ^ un to l earn > ^ possible, what was 

Kills tne probable cause of the death of 
some men of high standing in the 
financial world who were reported to 
have hastened their death by over- 
work. Mr. Dana did not believe that 
hard work could kill. The result of 
the inquiry in each instance was to 
the effect that these men were the 
victims of worry, which was as unne- 
cessary, as it was unprofitable and fatal. 

AN AUTHOR 

One of the most prolific, observing, 
and interesting writers of stories and 
descriptive articles for the magazines, 
a war correspondent and one time jour- 
nalist, has endorsed and practiced the 
theory presented in this paper, and has 
done me the honor to write approv- 
ingly as follows : 

"I have succeeded in entirelv rid- 



A-B-C OF TRUE LIVING 85 

ding myself of the cancers, and am 
amazed at the ease with which it was 
done. You are certainly an apostle of e 
sweetness and light, and I shall never 
be able to thank you enough for letting 
me into your noble secret." 

He notes especially an improved 
digestion, and feels younger each day 
as he progresses in the new life. 

A GENERAL MANAGER 

The Southern General Manager of 
one of the largest British Insurance 
Companies is a tried convert, and finds 
health and happiness which had never 
been attained while under the thraldom 
of worry, which was his only former 
affliction. 

AN AUTHORESS 

The author of a novel which has just 
come before the public, and which 
is one of the purest and most ingenious 
stories ever published, is an ardent con- 
vert to the belief that she is superior 
to the depressing passions, and her 



Germ Cure 
Logical to 
All 



86 MENTICULTURE; OR, THE 

naturally religious temperament finds 
great solace in it. 

A LAWYER 

A leading lawyer of New Orleans, 
of very old family, religious by nature, 
but not sectarian, found comfort in the 
idea of the possible elimination of the 
passions, and the unrestricted growth 
of the God-given faculties, in substance 
as follows : 

"The germ theory of cure must ap- 
peal to all persons in a greater or less 
degree, especially to such as find it dif- 
ficult to believe in a personal Deity who 
receives directly and directly answers 
prayer as a special dispensation. They 
can find logic in the cultivation of the 
Divine Spark which has been breathed 
in to them, and feel that in its growth 
toward perfection the Laws of Nature 
are being assisted and not violated; 
while to such as find faith in a personal 
God and comfort and help in prayer, 
the ability to be superior to sinful 



A-B-C OF TRUE LIVING 87 



thoughts will give stimulation to their 
faith, and be a fulfilment of the Ex- 



" Get Thee 

Behind me 
ample, which taught : Get thee behind s atan » 

me, Satan r 



A SOUTHRON 

I was traveling with a friend from 
the South who is one of the best fel- 
lows that I know. He is kind, consid- 
erate, chivalrous, and all that char- 
acterizes a Southern gentleman; but he 
has a false idea of dignity in some re- 
spects, and precipitates controversy 
sometimes without cause, and when he 
himself is to blame in the matter. We 
were discussing the theory of Emanci- 
pation, and he agreed with me on almost 
all of the points at issue, in fact to such 
an extent that I felt that he absorbed 
the idea fully, when he said: "Yes, 
it is true, and I believe in it, and I 
think I have practiced it somewhat ; 
but I can't stand impertinence from 
niggers ; they rub up against me all 
the time, and annoy me terribly, espe- 



"Superior 
to Nig- 
gers" 



88 MENTICULTURE; OR, THE 

cially these Pullman porters." "Yes," 
said I in reply, " you have attained 
pretty good self-control and have rea- 
son to be proud of it ; you are pretty 
nearly a perfect man ; the only thing 
you are not superior to is a nigger." 
The rebuke impressed him as a truism 
that had never occurred to him in that 
light before. 

The truth of the matter is, and I 
have had both experiences to prove it 
to my own satisfaction, antagonism in- 
vites antagonism. A fostered dislike 
or an anticipated friction sends out a 
shaft in advance which rebounds and 
rebounds with quickening vibrations. 
If one is looking for impertinence from 
any source he will be pretty sure to 
find it; but if he carries a mind and 
heart free from prejudice, which is the 
condition of Emancipation, the shaft 
will not be unloosed, and the disturb- 
ing vibrations will not occur. I do not 
believe that Pullman porters were ever 
discourteous to Phillips Brooks, or Ed- 



A-B-C OF TRUE LIVING 89 

ward Everett Hale, or Professor Swing 

K r 

or men of their caliber of mind; or if 
they were, I do not believe that the 
impertinence made any impression on 
them except to excite pity. 

FEAR DISPELLED 

The most remarkable evidence in 
support of my theory that fear is dis- 
pelled with worry, and which corrob- 
orates my own experience, comes from 
an old friend who once had a shock 
from a stroke of lightning, and who, 
on account of it, has for years suffered 
wretchedly from a depression akin to 
involuntary fear whenever the weather 
has indicated an approaching storm. 
He has accepted the possibility of 
Emancipation and enjoyed deliver- 
ance from the passions, but strangely 
enough has also now immunity from 
any uncomfortable feeling during elec- 
tric storms. 



90 MENTICULTURE; OR, THE 
TIMIDITY DISAPPEARS 

Another convert states that he has 
Psychic ,'"„...... , 

lost all timidity, in the presence 01 an 

audience, which formerly he could not 

overcome. 

THOMSON J. HUDSON 

Mr. Thomson J.Hudson, in his Law 
of Psychic Phenomena, has marshalled a 
great array of authentic evidence, 
gathered from the researches of many 
Psychological Societies, which all 
prove the power of the mind over 
itself and over the body, and its 
amenability to suggestion, under the 
receptive condition of faith. One can 
not read this able work without becom- 
ing convinced that Emancipation is 
entirely possible. Any one who wishes 
to learn something of the power stored 
within him, will do well to read the 
Law of Psychic Phenomena. 

The success of the Keeley Cure in 
conquering the habits of drinking, 



A-B-C OF TRUE LIVING 91 

opium, and tobacco, is proof of the 
efficacy of germ treatment where the ... w . , 
germs are sensual, or mental. If bi- 
chloride of gold can cure such dread 
y passions of the appetite, may not bi- ( 
chloride of common sense cure the bad 

yhabits of the mind that cause them? 

i 

A MASTER WORKMAN 

And now, comes a scrap of evi- 
dence that is valuable because it is 
furnished by a man whose experience 
is wide among the people who make 
the wealth which we all enjoy ; to 
whom we are directly indebted for 
the comforts and luxuries of life ; 
and whose endorsement of an idea 
or reform is necessary to make it be- 
come a feature of our system or 
government. He went west many 
years ago from New York, a mechanic 
by trade, and found employment in 
the shops of one of the great rail- 
roads. In time he was advanced 
to the position of foreman. In private 



92 MENTICULTURE; OR, THE 

life he is now a Baron Bountiful 

in the service of everybody within 

~ his reach. As Masterworkman of La- 

Comfort 

bor Organizations, he has urged the 

just cause of his confreres with the 
success that follows earnest conviction. 
In the intimate confidence of his em- 
ployers, he has presented their side of 
a controversy to the men without any of 
the misrepresentation of a demagogue. 
He is the President of a sound 
Building and Loan Association, with- 
out salary, not to make money for him- 
self, but for the purpose of helping his 
men to build and own homes; and 
those who have felt his assistance in 
that direction, and owe him debts of 
gratitude for various benefactions, are 
numbered by the hundreds. When- 
ever there is sickness, he brings solid 
help and the sunniest of comfort; and 
when there is death, he knows just how 
best to serve the afflicted family with 
those delicate attentions which relieve 
them from repulsively material de- 



A-B-C OF TRUE LIVING 93 

tails, his presence always bringing com- _ 

f , .... Emancipa- 

fort even under circumstances in which 

1 i 1 it- tion Ap- 

people want most to be alone. His 

sympathy is universal, and reflects itself 

into the hearts of all with whom he 

comes in contact. 

To such a man, one would naturally 
think the depressing passions were 
strangers, and that he must have been 
born without them; but he assures me 
that he was a slave to them for many 
years, and that he was frightened out of 
harboring them by a physician, and that 
whatever good he has accomplished in 
his humble sphere (as he calls it) he 
attributes to the partial Emancipation 
which his doctor's warning led him to 
enforce upon himself. The story that 
follows was elicited on hearing an out- 
line of the theory of possible Emanci- 
pation as presented in these pages. 

"Stop right there: don't go any 
farther till I have talked with you about 
that part of it. It is as true as gospel, 
but I never knew what it was- I have 



94 MENTICULTURE; OR, THE 

"The Old ^ a d an ex P ei *i ence which makes me 
Gentleman ^ now th at lt 1S true > but I didn't know 
Needs it" tne reason f° r it- When the doctors 
told me that I must quit worrying and 
take it easy, or medicine would do me 
no good, and I would die, why didn't 
they tell me that anger and worry were 
not necessary, and that it was they that 
I was suffering from? I would have 
understood it better, and I wouldn't 
have had so much trouble about fearing 
I would have them back some time in 
spite of myself. Why didn't the preach- 
ers tell me this when I was a boy, and 
let me begin to live then, instead of 
waiting till I got to be an old man or 
pretty near to it? You can bet that 
my boys will know this thing right 
away, and live it too, and I want my 
men to know it. It is the only thing 
they need to complete their happiness. 
The old gentleman needs it, and Mr. — , 

and Mr . (mentioning a number of 

well known men who are their own 
worst enemies, who harm no one but 



A-B-C OF TRUE LIVING 95 

themselves, but whose abuse of self, _ 
. . . .11 "Got to be 

through worry, is as merciless as the c 

e 1 t • • • \ 11 bupenn- 

torturesot the Inquisition ); and what a tenc j ent » 

blessing it would be for the women! 
See here, I want a hundred of those 
books as soon as they are published, 
and I know where they will do a heap 
of good. They will be better than the 
medicine of all the doctors, and do a 
lot of good besides. I'm going to com- 
mit what you have told me to memory, 
so as to tell people about it if I haven't 
got a book by me. You see that I 
know all about this, for I have had an 
experience. When I was a youngster, 
I was naturally ambitious, and pretty 
smart with the tools, and 'took' with 
my employers, and finally got to be 
superintendent. Then I got to be more 
ambitious, especially after I was married 
and the children came. I wanted them 
to have a good education and be fitted 
to be gentlemen, which I knew their 
mother's, and I might remark incident- 
ally, my own blood entitled them to be. 



g6 MENTICULTURE; OR, THE 

T ry I was pretty sensitive, and was always 

a Habit standing up for my rights. I was too 
apt to worry. I had not heard what 
you have told me and thought worry 
necessary. If I had not worried I 
would not have got angry. 

" When I got to be superintendent I 
thought that one of the things that I 
had to do was to be sure and maintain 
my dignity, and show it by occasion- 
ally making believe mad at something. 
At first I did not feel it half as much 
as I showed it ; but I thought it 
was part of the business of a boss 
to get mad, until finally it got to be 
a habit, and grew on me till I was in a 
state of anger most of the time. I 
also thought that I had to worry about 
things, or I would not show the proper 
respect for my responsibilities. It was 
the way I had of letting myself feel that 
I was carrying a terrible burden and 
earning my salary. The trouble was 
that, while it was partly play-acting at 
first, it came to be habit, and worked on 



A-B-C OF TRUE LIVING 97 

my health in the end. The doctors t( F . , 
dosed me with all sorts of medicine. I ened out Q £ 
was a regular pigeon, and gave up many m Wits >> 
a hard-earned dollar to them for no 

good at all. One day Dr. L , to 

whom I went as a last resort, for I was 
beginning to have dizzy spells and 
twitching in the face that was serious, 
asked me a lot of questions about 
myself and my habits and duties. I 
told him frankly, and when I had done 
so he said : ' There is no use giving 
you any medicine, you have got to quit 
worrying and take it easy ; that is the 
only trouble with you. If you keep on 
with your worry I will have to give 
your family a certificate of death; so, if 
you don't want me to do that, you just 
quit your worrying and take life easy. 
Whatever you do, don't get into fits of 
anger, for that is more wearing to a 
man in your condition than anything 
else.' Well, to 'fess up and tell you 
the truth, I got frightened out of my 
wits. I hadn't got near enough to 



98 MENTICULTURE ; OR, THE 

Anger and ei S ht y ( m y limit ) to think about d y in g> 
and I didn't want to do it right then, 
especially as I hadn't got Mary and 
the boys well enough fixed to leave. 
The other doctors had made a monkey 
of me, and took my money, and told 
me that I would be all right in a few 
days ; but this honest German told me 
the truth and set me to thinking. I 
didn't say a word to anyone, but made 
up my mind I would take his advice. 
At first I thought that I was shirking 
some of the duties of a superintendent, 
when I quit getting mad and worrying; 
but I squared it with myself by saying 
to myself, ' Better be a tame donkey 
for the company than a dead one.' 
Well, I didn't know it at the time ; 
that is, I didn't know the cause of it, 
but from that time I have just had 
luck under my wing all the time. I 
have pleased my employers, and I have 
pleased the men, and things have been 
coming my way in great shape, and 
they are still a-coming. Why, I see it 



A-B-C OF TRUE LIVING 99 

all as plain as the nose on your face. 
Those little devils that keep a man 
back, and keep him from being happy, G , 
have no business there by rights; and all Ndgiibors 
you have got to know is that they are 
poachers, and all you have got to do is 
to tell them to 'git.' And just see how 
it would work if everybody knew this 
as I see it. If you knew that your 
neighbor knew that Emancipation was 
possible, you would know at the same 
time that he was no fool, and that, 
knowing it, he had become Emanci- 
pated, of course, and there would be a 
trustful sympathy established at once, 
and you would pull together and never 
apart after that. If his fence accidentally 
encroached an inch on your land, you 
would be glad of it; or, if your fence 
had been set on his side of the legal 
line, he would not object; and so it 
would go on between you, and you 
would be happy and good neighbors to 
each other. Why, I would rather my 
men would have that secret and day's 



:oo MENTICULTURE; OR, THE 



"Looking 
Backward' 
from 
Emanci- 
pation 



wages, than a million of dollars without 
it ; and my boys, if I don't leave them a 
cent, I will leave them full of this secret, 
and won't worry about their future hap- 
piness. I was much interested in that 
book you gave me several years ago 
called ' Looking Backward.' What the 
author said about co-operation, and all 
that, was all right and very beautiful; 
but I didn't take much stock in it be- 
cause I had such a poor opinion of 
human nature, that Ididn't think peo- 
ple could quit grabbing and get down 
to brass tacks in a co-operative way. 
But if you can spread the idea of Men- 
tal Emancipation as you have told it to 
me (and I don't see what can help its 
spreading like wildfire as soon as it 
gets out), the social paradise pictured 
in ' Looking Backward ' will come as 
a matter of course ; and I see it a-com- 
ing If you take off a brake I can see 
how a car can run down a hill, but 
with the brake on I couldn't see how 
you could push it down. 



A-B-C OF TRUE LIVING IOI 

"The more I think of this thing the 
bigger it gets, and it is a sure winner. 
Now suppose my family, and the B. Ma ' 
family on the corner, and the N. family ° 
next door had found out the secret, cl P at 
anybody that couldn't grasp it couldn't 
live in the street, he would feel so un- 
comfortable. In fact, if there were such 
an one, we could put him down for a 
crazy man or an idiot, and treat him 
with the same consideration we treat 
such weak people. 

" Or suppose the men over in the 
shops were the joint possessors of the 
secret; why, the first thing you would 
know they would all be at work on 
some co-operative plan for themselves. 
Not that any of us have anything 
against the employers we work for, for 
there are no better in the land; but it 
is the blamed stupidity of the system 
that makes men work hard for small 
wages to feed the flames of ruinous 
rivalry. Look at the brains locked up 
in the pates of lawyers which have 



I02 MENTICULTURE; OR, THE 

nothing better to do than to mix things 
up so that they will get the job of un- 
Prostituted mixing them. Think what would hap- 
pen if all that education and all that in- 
genuity were turned towards invention! 
Most of the tangles they are employed 
to unravel should never have existed, 
and would not have existed in a com- 
munity where the secret of Emancipa- 
tion had been told. In all of the clum- 
siness of competition, and the expense 
of pullback methods, labor, the source 
of all we have, pays the whole freight 
in one way or another; and the reason 
it does so is because of the little par- 
asite devils that are sawing wood and 
hatching eggs in the minds of each 
individual worker and producer. With 
these little devils at work in him he is 
suspicious, selfish, jealous, and what 
not else, because he thinks his neighbor 
and fellow workman are similarly pos- 
sessed, and he must be so too to get 
along. Under this condition cohesion 
is impossible, and schemers prey upon 



A-B-C OF TRUE LIVING 103 

the separateness of the producing com- _ 

... 1 r 1 Emancipa- 

munity to rob it of as much of the 

product of its labor as possible. Suppose p 
that the secret of possible Emancipa- R kt> ery 
tion should become general (and for 
the life of me I cannot see how it can 
fail to do so), there would be confidence, 
trustfulness, cohesion, ambition to be 
useful, and the energy of the healthy 
child for play-work would return to the 
rejuvenated man, and he would play 
work under those conditions and not 
feel that it was a mark of servitude 
and necessity, and the land would sing 
with the sound of willing industry." 

My friend had become eloquent under 
the inspiration of the possible estab- 
lishment of a Heaven on earth to which 
he could invite his friends. Do not 
think that this is not a true report of 
a conversation in real life. My friend 
is a real character; is well read and 
educated by observation and exper- 
ience, and could succeed in almost 
any position in life except in such as 



104 MENTI CULTURE; OR, THE 

did not give "value received" for the 
Emancipa- . . . T T . . . 

service rendered. He is one ot those 

"Noblemen by Nature" to whom the 
Eloquence wor ld owes so much, but pays so little; 
but he is happy in doing good, and the 
field he works in is one of the richest 
for that harvest, and the compensation 
he prizes most highly, is the happiness 
he is able to give others. He had 
the secret of True Living forced on 
him, in spite of the example of the 
world, without knowing the true cause 
or value of his good fortune; but his 
happiness was increased many fold 
when he learned that it was his birth- 
right; was a possession of which no 
one could rob him; and would re- 
main his as long as he lived. And as 
he has faith in the Eternal Evolution of 
everything, he feels that, freed from the 
depressing passions, there will be no 
end to his growth; that, at the so-called 
middle age of human tenure, he is but in 
the beginning of life; or, if not that, 
that each day is a wealth of joy unto 



Heaven is 



A-B-C OF TRUE LIVING 105 

itself in spite of any external conditions; 

for he has found that "the kingdom of .„ , 

Heaven is at hand" and that a branch 

of it has been established in his own 

heart. 

All men are not constituted alike. 
In the economy of Nature it is her pur- 
pose that no two things are made alike. 
In a million years a million men could 
not count the spears of grass in the 
fields, or the hairs of the heads of men; 
yet no patient investigator has been 
able to find any two of them that did not 
differ from every other one when put 
under the lens of the microscope One 
thousand millions of humans inhabit 
this earth. Each has essentially the 
same form, the same two eyes, the 
same mouth, the same ears and hands 
and arms; and yet even in the case of 
twins, where the nearest approach to 
similarity comes, the mother never can 
mistake the one for the other. If 
you are unlike others, it is because na- 
ture chose to cast you in a different 



106 MENTICULTURE; OR, THE 

mould to serve some wise purpose; and 

s with that form, comes the God-given 

essence of the Divine, whose presence 
ner-stones , , ., , , 

and growth are evidenced by an innate 

yearning for spirituality. Much spir- 
ituality lifts a man above his less 
spiritual fellows and makes of him a 
cornerstone, or a keystone, or some 
other important segment of the so- 
cial structure; and lack of it con- 
demns him to be a bit of rubble, 
or an atom of filling. The corner- 
stones and the keystones help and 
support each other in the stately arch, 
while the rubble and the atoms fall 
apart and become dirt, when allowed 
to find their level. Which shall we 
choose to become: the keystone of the 
arch, or some of the dirt of the earth 
beneath it? Which shall we choose: 
happiness, health, growth, usefulness, 
rest, and a fitting relationship to the 
Divine, or the reverse? Each is what 
God made him plus what he can attain 
by growth. Through eradication of 



than a king 



A-B-C OF TRUE LIVING 107 

the cankerous passions; through the 
extirpation of the mental weeds; the £ 
dwarf may grow to be greater than the ^ 
king; and all can freely and fully enjoy 
life and growth, when they have learned 
the A-B-C of True Living. The 
grammar, and the rhetoric, and the 
poetry, and perhaps a higher intelli- 
gence than we know of now may fol- 
low, and are sure to follow; but they 
will be but brighter phases of hap- 
piness already attained. 

A CHURCHWOMAN 

In searching for corroborative evi- 
dence of the possibility of Emancipa- 
tion, I was fortunate in meeting a lady 
whose acquaintance with the several re- 
ligions and metaphysics is exceptional ; 
and whose clear intelligence regarding 
the value of menticulture, makes her a 
rare critic in questions of this kind. 
From her I received the most valued en- 
couragement. She is a devout church- 
woman, but has studied along the sev- 



A Devout 
Church- 
woman 



108 MENTICULTURE; OR, THE 

eral lines of psychology in search of 
additional light and strength. She 
had read my simple presentation of 
the theory of germ cure, and found in 
it a ray of hope, the effect of which 
she described as follows: "The sensa- 
tion that was produced in me by the 
suggestion, I cannot describe. It was 
as if a great flood of light had burst 
upon me, and I saw the possibility of 
an immediate realization of my spiritual 
ideal; and I have prayed to God con- 
stantly, that it may not leave me. 
There have been unusual occasions for 
worry and annoyance since then. I 
have just moved to a new city ; into a 
new house; and my husband and I are 
beginning life anew in an untried field. 
All of my past associations are broken 
up, and new sympathies among stran- 
gers are to be formed. My husband's 
health has been poor, and mine has 
been wretched, so that we have been 
compelled to seek climates more favor- 
able, at the expense of financial con- 



A-B-C OF TRUE LIVING log 

siderations; yet, the cloud that hung _. , 

. . . Simple 

over our prospects has been miracu- T 

lously dispelled, and my days and sre ^- ient 
nights are soothed with a calm con- 
tentment and happiness which I have 
never known before. My religion 
seems more precious to me than ever. 
It seems as if one simple little ingre- 
dient that it lacked has been found ; 
and that now it is perfect. I have 
always been possessed of a desire to 
accomplish one act in life which should 
be conspicuous for its usefulness to 
some one ; and if I can ever succeed 
in giving to one person the light and 
comfort that this revelation has given 
to me, I shall feel that my ambition 
has been attained." 

Her discovery of a simple little in- 
gredient, in the theory of germ cure, 
led to a new appreciation of the idea 
of simplicity in connection with it, 
which has been amplified in the suc- 
ceeding chapter. 



FIRST PRINCIPLES OVER- 
LOOKED 



FIRST PRINCIPLES OVERLOOKED 

Simplicity and harmony are the 

ultimate conditions to be attained in Sl 

all things. In literature, and in music, ar 

, . , . . . j . mony are 

and in oratory, and in painting, and in T „ . 

. . , • it • i. . . Ultimate 

mechanics, and in lire, simplicity is at 

once the greatest charm, and the best 
evidence of merit. In mechanics, a 
simple little device usually perfects the 
great labor-saving machine. In chem- 
istry, a simple little ingredient may give 
culminating power to a world-building 
or a world-destroying compound. In 
oratory, a simple and impassioned appeal 
is most potent to move the multitude 
to action ; and in menticulture, the 
simple and direct application of the germ 
cure, may be able to effect a millennium 
in social evolution within a generation. 
Stranger things have happened ! Be- 
cause it has not happened, is no reason 
113 



114 MENTICULTURE; OR, THE 

why it should not happen. In fact, 
Germ Cure . , . , 111,. 

t TT , there are logical reasons why the habit 
not Under- .11,1 

of repression should have smothered 

any idea of germ cure, till Science 
placed an analogy in physics before 
our eyes ; especially because the false 
hypothesis of original (or natural) sin, 
has been persistently advanced as a 
law of our being. 

Christ taught the germ cure, and 
hinted at no other as an alternative. 
In the sermon on the mount; in his 
talks by the Sea of Galilee; and in 
his rebuke of the devil in the desert, 
there was no note of indecision sug- 
gested. Do and be and get were unmis- 
takable commands. But these com- 
mands were given in a gentle manner, 
to half-doubting disciples, and faintly 
echoed by them to an incredulous 
world, that had not learned the power 
of mind over matter, or over itself; 
and hence the world waited for Science 
to prove even greater possibilities, 
before giving heed to the simple com- 



A-B-C OF TRUE LIVING 115 

mands of the Great Teacher in the 
manner he commanded. 

One of the great weaknesses of the 
age in which we live is the ignoring of 
first principles, and a reaching out for 
the remote or unattainable. In the 
matter of home responsibilities, and 
in menticulture, this is most apparent. 
The order of responsibility is — the 
mind, — the body — the mind of the 
child — the body or health of the child — 
and so on in the sequence of relation- 
ship in the family, in the community, 
in the nation, and in the world ; not 
with selfish discrimination against the 
more remote, but with zealous care of 
the nearer relationships. This order, 
however, is rarely observed. We weed 
the garden, but do not weed the mind. 
We pass laws to punish any who strike, 
or rob, or corrupt a citizen, but there 
is no law to protect the abused or neg- 
lected children of drunken or incom- 
petent parents, except in extreme 
cases. Breeders of fine animals take 



Order of 
Responsi- 
bility 



Laissez 
Faire 



Il6 MENTICULTURE ; OR, THE 

the greatest pains to guard all the con- 
ditions surrounding their stock, and at 
the same time encourage family alli- 
ance with consumptive plutocrats. 

The antiquated and primitive doc- 
trine of laissez faire, has been replaced 
by those of Division of Labor, and of 
Protection, in the cases of the strong 
who have demanded them, or who 
have purchased them through leg- 
islative cupidity; but still obtains in 
the cases of the weak and non-as- 
sertive. 

The truant subjects of great nations, 
scattered in foreign lands, are hedged 
about with protection equal to an im- 
perial guard ; and thousands of men 
and millions of money are sacrificed to 
revenge an insult to, or protect the 
property of a claimant citizen at the 
Antipodes ; while hundreds and thou- 
sands of the producers at home are 
starving and dying, because of the 
maladministration of the first princi- 
ples of economies, and the laissez faire 



A-B-C OF TRUE LIVING 117 

license given to selfish and unscrupu- 
lous competition. ProteLd 

Arrogant commerce, and the al- We , 
ready-powerful, have no end of pro- ij n p ro . 
tection; but the mind, the health, the tected 
child, and the producer, are left to 
the tender mercy of chance, or are 
hampered by crushing conditions of 
abuse and neglect contrary to every 
law of growth ; and thus it must be ; 
until we adopt the germ cure, as a 
principle of menticulture, and Eman- 
cipation, as the first evidence of intelli- 
gence and respectability. 

In self-administration, the far-away 
habit is quite as prevalent as in the 
administration of Society. Men and 
women slave and save, to furnish 
means for sending missionaries to 
India, to release the Indian mind of 
imagined evils, while they crawl about 
servile to anger or worry, or both 
anger and worry. They set their 
ideal of happiness at an indefinite 
height, always out of reach. They 



Il8 MENTICULTURE; OR, THE 

hide their Heaven behind the curtain 

6 of death, and refuse to look for it 
Precious .... . . . . , 

~. within the precincts of their own heart. 

Time r 

They waste precious time in speculat- 
ing as to the form and attributes of 
the Cause of all things, its residence 
and disposition, while they smother 
under the pall of inappreciation, the 
best evidence of its existence, and the 
most potent workings of its power, 
within themselves. And all this be- 
cause they work from the wrong end, 
and are dull to the efficacy of growth 
from the basis of Emancipation. 

Their method of life is like the un- 
raveling of a snarled skein from the 
middle. They fumble futilely at the 
snarl, and accomplish little, if any- 
thing, when they ought first to release 
the end within themselves, and follow 
the cord from that beginning, along 
the line of growth and organization, 
to the condition of unrestricted free- 
dom, and usefulness, — the condition 
of Emancipated Brotherhood. 



A-B-C OF TRUE LIVING IIQ 

Religions are founded, fraternal 

• .. r j • Nations 

societies are formed, armies are mar- 
shalled, and nations are grown about . 

, . . . 1.11 About an 

a sympathetic idea, to which the ma- . 

jority subscribe. The aim is always 
the same : growth, protection, har- 
mony, happiness, Heaven. But the 
growth is slow, the protection is only 
partial, the harmony is incomplete, 
perfect happiness is impossible, and 
Heaven is indefinite and remote ; 
because their organization tolerates 
selfishness as a necessary " mark of 
Cain," instead of being built on the 
foundation of Emancipation. 

All true calculation must recognize 
a unit of value ; in menticulture the 
only true unit is Emancipation. 

In harmony, instruments cannot be 
tuned from several standards; there 
must be one key-note; and harmony in 
menticulture can only come from the 
key-note — Emancipation. 



SLAVES OR FREEMEN-WHICH? 



Overcome 



SLAVES OR FREEMEN 

Within the memory of many now 
living, Society was dominated by the 
belief that human body-slavery was a ~ 
Divine institution. 

Thirty-five years ago a great war 
was waged against the institution in 
this country, at the expense of hun- 
dreds of thousands of lives, and thou- 
sands of millions of dollars worth of 
property. 

That war resulted not only in kill- 
ing the institution itself, but also in the 
extirpation of the idea of its Divine 
origin. 

It is no longer a question of debate 
in any part of the civilized word, but 
an established international under- 
standing, that slavery is not only 
unjust to the enslaved, but an evil, the 
effects of which are shared by the 
master. 

123 



124 MENTICULTURE; OR, THE 



Negro slavery in America was, how- 
ever, a mild and beneficent institution, 



Mercenary 

Fashion a 

Cruel as compared to the voluntary servitude 

to Mercenary Fashion, which enthrals 
so many at the present time. Merce- 
nary Fashion places burdens on rich 
and poor alike, and costs Society more 
lives and property yearly, than all that 
was wasted during the war of the Re- 
bellion. 

Most of the masters of the negro 
were kindly and considerate, and not 
a few of the negro uncles and aunties 
now living, regret the "good old times 
when marster and missus did all the 
plannin' and pervidin', and all we uns 
had to do was work, and sing and 
dance." 

On the other hand, Mercenary 
Fashion has headquarters in Paris, 
in London, in Vienna, and in Berlin; 
and sets its traps all over the world, 
baited with styles of such absurd 
taste and uselessness that interest in 
them can only be brief. It is part of 



A-B-C OF TRUE LIVING 125 



its deliberate policy, not to suggest 
any form or style that has merit suffi- 
cient to make it desirable a second 



Ostenta- 
tion Pan- 
season. It avoids any approach to the Fac 
simple and beautiful and comfortable 
drapery used by the ancient Greeks, 
because of fear that its trade will be 
ruined by the stability of the wares. 
Ostentation is the ever-ready victim 
to take the poisonous bait; and then, 
there is a mad rush of the mimicking 
slaves, to assume the fetters which 
bind them to constant toil. Dishonor, 
infamy, and shame, are braved by men 
and women alike, in following the 
allurements of Mercenary Fashion. 

Fear (of criticism) and Envy are 
the two phases of the root passions, 
that are the most powerful and active 
agents in securing victims for Merce- 
nary Fashion; but, if Emancipation 
were the established rule of life, 
these agents would not exist; Osten- 
tation would not be followed; and 
Taste, and Usefulness, and Perma - 



126 MENTICULTURE; OR, THE 

nence, would be the leaders instead; 

and a state of cooperation which might 

„ j properly be named Good Fashion, or 
Freedom v \ ' . ' 

God fashion, would succeed the 

tyrant of the present; and Fashion, 
under such conditions, would be a bles- 
sing instead of a curse as at present. 
Mercenary Fashion has met with a 
formidable adversary in the bicycle. 
The absurd costumes inflicted by it on 
a servile world, seem as ridiculous 
when mounted on a bicycle, as if 
they were placed on the David of 
Michael Angelo, or on the Venus de 
Milo. Bicycle costumes for women 
may not displace all others; but, with 
the freedom of movement enjoyed on 
the wheel, in a costume suitable to 
the unhampered action of a biped; 
with the constant restraint of position 
rendered necessary by the wearing of 
skirts removed, woman may soon be- 
come free to move and act as Nature 
designed that she should move and act, 
and enjoyment of this new freedom 



Make 
Freedom 



A-B-C OF TRUE LIVING 127 

will greatly modify her slavery to Mer- 
cenary Fashion. 

Fashion (or mimicry) is good, if " 
properly led. able 

If it were fashionable to believe 
that anger and worry were unnecessary 
weeds of the mind, were blemishes 
that could be removed from the dispo- 
sition, were habits that were unbecom- 
ing to civilized man, and were handi- 
caps to energy and happiness that 
could be put aside at will, the world 
could follow that fashion to a state of 
Emancipation, with all the enthusiasm 
it could muster, and benefit itself by 
being fashionable. 

And, should a just appreciation of 
the power within us become fashion- 
able, the tendency to mimicry; which is 
now the connecting link of resemblance 
between us and the monkey from 
which we have evolved, would become 
an element of strength, instead of an 
element of weakness. 

We, as individuals, support the 



Plows with 
a Stick 



128 MENTICULTURE; OR, THE 

fashions, but we do not suggest them. 
We support waste and discomfort, for 
the benefit of mercenary and designing 
fashion-makers, with the product of 
never-ending toil, because we ape 
Ostentation, cringe before Fear, and 
encourage Envy as an attribute of 
Pride. 

We are slaves indeed! not only in 
the matter of clothes, but in the matter 
of the distribution of the necessities 
and luxuries of life and comfort. We 
do some things more cleverly than the 
rest of the world, but in others we 
excel in clumsiness and inconsistency. 
In Mexico (our nearest neighbor), a 
sharpened stick is still used for plow- 
ing; but, that is not nearly as crude, of 
its kind, as some of the business 
methods that we support in this coun- 
try are of their kind; and in matters 
of utmost importance, too. For in- 
stance: in the city of Montgomery, Ala- 
bama, there is a square, or rather a 
diamond, around which, and within a 



Convention 



A-B-C OF TRUE LIVING 129 

block of which, there are eight or nine _ 
1 TL . '. Druggists 

drug stores. 1 his may not be an 

unusual bunching of druggists, but, as 
Montgomery is a meeting point of 
several terminal railroads, and trains 
from all directions are usually detained 
there one or two hours, I have had 
abundant opportunity to study this 
constellation of red and green lights, 
that blink and stare at all who visit 
the park they look on. They all seem 
to be full fledged, and fully equipped 
drug stores, and not devoted to special- 
ties, as one would suppose as a reason 
for there being so many of them. 

As it is, there are eight stores, eight 
stocks of goods, eight sets of clerks, 
eight insurance policies, eight compu- 
tations of interest, eight gas or electric 
light bills, and probably eight many- 
other items of expense chargeable to 
the profits on the sales, and supported 
by the public, when one establishment 
would serve all the people of Mont- 
gomery better than the eight do now. 



130 MENTICULTURE; OR, THE 

Mont- If these stores were scattered about 
gomery, the city, the matter of convenience 
Alabama could be urged for their existence. To 
support such prodigality, profits rang- 
ing from one hundred to one thousand 
per cent, have to be charged, and the 
public evidently pays them, for their 
existence from year to year is evidence 
of support from some one. Suppose 
the Corporation of the City of Mont- 
gomery were to vote an appropriation 
of fifty thousand (or perhaps only 
twenty thousand) dollars, for the pur- 
pose of establishing a first-class dispen- 
sary of medicines, etc., and should put 
it in charge of a competent chemist, 
who would know what medicines were 
good, and what compounds were not 
good? The patronage of the citizens 
would support such an establishment 
on a ten per cent, basis of profit, and 
pay ten per cent, interest on the invest- 
ment without doubt, and the citizens 
would not be at the mercy of chance 
or imposition, in a matter of prime 



A-B-C OF TRUE LIVING 131 

importance to health, as they are liable 

to be, under any but the most perfect ... 

, . . 1 ,. • Waste 

system of selecting and dispensing 

drugs and patent medicines. 

This is a single instance among thou- 
sands, of the unintelligent application 
of the doctrine of laissez /aire to 
matters of vital social interest; and is 
given here to illustrate a form of slav- 
ery to inconvenience and waste, that 
would be cleared away like mist before 
the sun, as the result of evolution, 
from the standpoint of Emancipation. 

It required a million guns, and the 
assistance of several million men, 
with all the waste and blood which 
war carries with it, to free the negro; 
and the advance of humanity the 
world over, was a fruit, worth the cost 
of the war; but slavery of the individ- 
ual to the parasite passions, will not 
enlist the rescue of arms, although 
it entails greater hardship than was 
ever suffered by the average negro 
slave. Each individual must gain for 



132 MENTICULTURE; OR, THE 

The himself this freedom ; no one else can 
Martyr a *d n ^ m except through suggestion 
and moral help. It is his birthright 
however, and awaits his call. 

The face of the martyr glowed 
with radiant happiness, when he ex- 
claimed to his jailers from the con- 
fines of his chains, "You have bound 
my body, but you cannot bind my soul! 
Kill my body if you like ! it will only 
give greater freedom to my soul." 1 But 
the so-called free citizen of to-day; 
who smothers himself under the blan- 
ket of worry; or, who spits angry in- 
justice at a self-created-phantom-cause 
for resentment, is a weak and pitiable 
wretch, as compared with the bonden 
martyr or negro of long ago. 

Emancipation, or, a perfectly de-an- 
gered and de-worryized mind, can only 
be secured through conviction of its 
possibility, and not simply through an 
intellectual admission of its possibility. 
Faith is the pre-requisite of every suc- 
cessful accomplishment in life. An 



A-B-C OF TRUE LIVING 133 

axiom of the circus ring warns an 
acrobat, or a gymnast, never to 
attempt a feat, unless he has perfect 
confidence in his ability to perform it 
successfully. Knowledge and the ap- 
preciation of the power of the mind 
over phantoms of its own creation, 
and confidence to expel them, is as 
necessary in menticulture as is the con- 
fidence of the gymnast in performing 
wonderful feats of menti-physical skill. 
The condition required for growth to 
Emancipation, is that of perfect faith 
and confidence, born of knowledge 
of the power God has given us to 
"cast out evil," and in that condition, 
Emancipation, when attained, can be 
anchored safely, protected from any 
of the battling and surging elements 
of discord from without. 

The researches of many scientific 
societies along the lines of Psychic 
Phenomena, endorsed by every utter- 
ance of Christ, reveal the fact that 
faith is a pre-requisite to subjection, or 



134 MENTICULTURE; OR, THE 

control, of the mind. The best sub- 
jects in scientific hypnotism are the 
strongest minded (who believe through 
knowledge), and the weakest minded 
(who believe through credulity); while 
the creatures of vacillating impulses, 
are hopeless dolts in the hands of the 
hypnotist, and will be those who will 
have to acquire Mental Emancipation 
because it is fashionable, and not be- 
cause it is sensible. 

The condition of Emancipation is 
one of faith in the beginning ; but, as 
soon as it is attained, there is no desire 
to replant mental weeds, and no strug- 
gle to repress them, for there are no 
roots or seeds from which to grow them. 

Faith must precede, but examples 
of Emancipation are sure to develop 
in every community, and soon the at- 
mosphere will be pregnant with the 
possibility of it. Then it will be easy 
to follow the fashion and dismiss anger 
and worry; and, after a little, shame 
will attach to the possession of them. 



A-B-C OF TRUE LIVING 135 

Growth and happiness will result from „, 

,...,, r Tottering 

the elimination or the germs or stnre; „ ( 

n House or 

natural cooperation will follow natural c an > t 
growth; and we will catch up with Mr. 
Bellamy's prophecy, long before the 
time specified in "Looking Backward," 
by the simple unraveling of a silken 
skein of endless possibilities from the 
free end within ourselves. 

Fear that individuality will be lost 
in cooperation, is one of the hot-shot 
missiles of mendacity, that is being 
fired at Cooperation from the citadel 
of the condemned passions, by the 
slaves of the tottering house of Can t, 
but will fall, harmless, before the 
armor of Emancipation. 

Does it lessen the individuality of 
the gardener to weed his soil? Does it 
weaken the individuality of a patient to 
cut out the root of his cancer? Does 
it militate against the power of a cause, 
to rid it of its faults? Will the runner 
run less swiftly, or the jumper jump 
less far, if they remove the handicap? 



ORGANIZATION 



137 



ORGANIZATION 

While Emancipation in the individ- q ._ 
ual is worth more than all the wealth zation 
of the world to him without it, organ- rj es i ra bl e 
ization about the idea is desirable for 
the purpose of aiding others ; and, 
(through cooperation and the most 
perfect economics) lightening the bur- 
den of compulsory labor, in order that 
there shall be more time to devote to 
recreation and recreative labor. 

Organization on the basis of Eman- 
cipation is sure to be the next great 
movement of reform and growth, in 
the light of whose strength, the puny 
efforts of the past will seem like the 
light of a tallow dip beside an electric 
cluster. 

This will come ; not because I have 
discovered it for myself and am pub- 
lishing an account of the discovery to 
139 



thing 
Takes 
Nothing 



140 MENTICULTURE; OR, THE 

my friends, but because the world has 
learned something of the powers at its 
command ; has learned the possibility 
of germ cure in physics ; has learned 
the efficacy of mental therapeutics in 
matters of both mind and body ; and 
is ripe for it. When I tell my friends 
my experience and deductions, they 
are prepared at once to accept them 
with credence. And so it will be with 
them and their friends, for logic and 
self interest are merits to commend 
it to all intelligent persons ; and, 
in the immediate future, it is not 
unreasonable to hope that Emanci- 
pation, as a basic condition favorable 
to growth and Brotherhood, may not 
be an uncommon accomplishment and 
requirement. I believe that it is one 
of the first steps urged in Christian 
Science and rendered possible by the 
belief, as it is in the Buddhist Disci- 
pline and Christian formula, and in 
the circle of my acquaintance there 
are already many believers in the 



A-B-C OF TRUE LIVING 14I 

possibility of Emancipation, who are No End t 
enjoying its benefits; who find that it Growth 
is the one little ingredient necessary to 
perfect their established beliefs, and 
strengthen their present affiliations ; 
and to whom it adds everything and 
from whom takes nothing. 

All the members of religious sects; 
all the members of fraternal socie- 
ties, as well as many of the disconnected 
seekers after intellectual and spiritual 
growth, should be eager to enroll 
themselves under the banner of Eman- 
cipation ; and if this should happen, 
the wished for Utopia of the most fer- 
tile imagination, would not be as re- 
mote as it has seemed to be in the past. 



HOPE 



HOPE 

When one has attained the condi- 
tion of Emancipation, let him be sure 
that it is only the elementary stage of 
growth, the happy childhood of true 
life (no matter what the physical age 
of the body), and that there is a possi- 
bility of development to a point of un- 
selfishness, whence one can view one's 
own individuality from without, and 
direct its action from an impersonal 
standpoint. Then each of us can will 
himself to act as he would like to have 
a beloved friend or relative act in any 
given situation. 

I believe that this is true, and en- 
tirely possible to the emancipated 
mind; but, as I have aimed to present 
only a personal discovery and experi- 
ence, I will leave a deeper consideration 
of the subject to the test of a longer 
acquaintance with the new-found life. 
145 



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